Reappraisal of stratigraphic position of a sandstone included in the Bagh Formation, exposed near Belam Bujurg, Khargone District, Madhya Pradesh, India

A sandstone included in the Bagh Formation occurs at Belam Bujurg, District Khargone, Madhya Pradesh. Its stratigraphic position is controversial. Bose considered it as Nimar Sandstone. His observation, that it is capped by a limestone containing bryozoans, implies that Sitapuri Bryozoan Limestone directly overlies Nimar Sandstone at Belam Bujurg. However, it is contradictory to Chiplonkar’s (1982) observation that Nodular limestone is invariably associated with Nimar Sandstone. According to Roy Chowdhury and Sastri (1954, 1958), this sandstone is an intercalation within the Sitapuri Bryozoan Limestone. Later, Badve (1987) correlated this sandstone with Nimar Sandstone on the basis of similar ichnofauna and believed that overlying limestone cap represented calcareous facies coming at the top of Nimar Sandstone. However, elsewhere frequency and variety of trace fossils are distinctly more in limestone layers, in comparison to sandstone layers. Moreover, the presence of similar trace fossils indicates similarity in the conditions of deposition, rather than correlation. Recent fieldwork by the present authors corroborates that this sandstone is an intercalation within Sitapuri Bryozoan Limestone. Identification of the bryozoan Limestone was confirmed by petrographic study in thin section.